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If you’re like me and basically everyone else in the world, your brain space and your phone’s algorithms have undergone a radical transformation. Suddenly, everything is gay (not new for me) and everything has to do with hockey (very new for me). Heated Rivalry, a new six-part series based on the Game Changers books, has completely taken over.
In the Crave/HBO Max series that follows two closeted pro-hockey players who are deeply in love, Connor Storrie plays Ilya Rozanov, a Russian hockey player who is known for his cocky attitude and frank demeanor. He’s the polar opposite of Shane Hollander (Hudson Williams), his Major League Hockey rival. They begin to have sex (really hot sex) while maintaining their status as rivals to the public, and for the two actors the whole experience has ushered them into a whole new level of fame. “I keep gaslighting myself into thinking that nobody has watched this show,” Storrie tells The Cut merely an hour after hearing the announcement that the show has been renewed for a second season. Below, Storrie talks about his Russian manifestations, joining the L.A. clown scene, and who he would cast in a lesbian version of Heated Rivalry.
I know you’ve talked about it, but everyone is still wondering: How did you become so proficient in Russian? Do you speak any other languages?
I’m not a polyglot. When I was little, besides wanting to be an actor, I just wanted to be European. I wanted to speak a foreign language. Also, I think like 70 percent of the town where I grew up in West Texas was Latino, so I was around Spanish all the time. I speak French because I studied abroad in France. When I was there, I met some Russians, and I got really into their music. I think I just have a knack for it. I’m good at feeling stupid and trying the accent and really committing to it, which is 90 percent of the language-learning stuff.
Did you understand what you were saying in character on the show?
I understand those words. The thing that makes Russian impossible is that it’s not like any other language. In Spanish, dog is always perro. In Russian sabaka means dog, but depending on the context it’s sabaka, sabaki, sabaku. If I’m like, “This is the dog,” then that’s one word. But if I say, “I’m petting the dog,” then that becomes a different word. And if it’s “the toys of the dog,” then the dog is a different word again. There’s six different ways to say almost every single word that depends on context. So learning vocabulary is almost impossible.
It’s been a crazy two weeks, and I’m sure you didn’t expect the reaction of the show to be like this, but what has been the most surreal thing that’s happened since the show came out?
I keep gaslighting myself into thinking that nobody has watched this show. I just went and walked and got my coffee with François, who plays Scott Hunter, and we got stopped four times in 15 minutes. Yesterday my sister and I went grocery shopping, and we were just walking around, and after we left she was like, “I didn’t want to tell you in the moment because I didn’t want to make you uncomfortable, but I saw like five different people sneak photos of you.” I was like, Damn, are we really at that level?
You very much are. Let’s get into some of the taste-test questions. Where do you get your best cultural recommendations from?
I only started being online in the past year or so. I’m in the clown scene in L.A.; it’s like an alternate-comedy theater that’s kind of blowing up. It’s been around forever. It’s very European. But it’s having a moment right now, and I feel like I get a lot of my culture from that. I get a lot of music recommendations. I see a lot of performance artists that are doing really crazy, daring stuff that show me what you can do artistically to stimulate people. It can be really brash. It can be kind of cringe. It can be really funny or manic or hysterical or sad.
What is your pre-filming ritual? Is there something you do to get into the right mind-set to film a scene?
With Ilya, his mannerisms and his accent clicked me into his physicality and his emotional state so easily. Since the accent’s so different from mine, and it does inform so much of the character, the moment I got to my trailer that morning until the time they called cut on the last thing, I kept that accent on just because it would be exhausting for me and everyone else if I went from talking like Connor to [switches to Ilya’s voice] being this all the time. No one would believe it. It would be bad for my brain. If I know that I have some heavier scenes, I’m a very high-energy person so if I have something that requires me to be a little bit more down, I have to kind of drop Connor a little bit and I have to work to slow my energy down and make my baseline like a level three rather than a level nine or ten, which I usually am.
Did you have a playlist that you listened to or a song that was on repeat when you guys were on set?
I had a playlist that was all old Russian music that I imagined Ilya’s grandmother probably would listen to. Old ’50s and ’60s love ballads and shit. Playing this Russian character was kind of a manifestation for me. I’ve loved Russian music since like 2015 or 2016. IC3PEAK, which is a pretty popular Russian band now, I was into them from the jump. I used to have an alter ego that I would DJ under with friends, and the character was Russian. I was the Czar. Russian music has always been a huge interest of mine.
I am a firm believer in manifestation, so I love hearing this. What’s the last book you read that you couldn’t put down?
To be honest, the last book I read was one of the books in the Game Changers series, Role Model, which is a book that’s connected to Shane and Ilya’s story. But before something in Game Changers, I actually think it was one about timeboxing, which is pretty much like how to schedule your life if you want to be highly productive. I read a lot of self-help books. I read Rick Rubin’s The Creative Act: A Way of Being.
Does the timeboxing stuff really work for you?
I don’t do the exact method of timeboxing, but I wrapped production on my feature-film debut as a director and writer at the end of last month, right before the premiere of Heated Rivalry, and timeboxing was super-helpful because I was doing all the production, preproduction, planning, all the call sheets, everything. Without taking an interest in these methods, I wouldn’t have been able to do any of that. But right now, life has been so crazy that my schedule is kind of like, Show up here and do this and then go do this. To quote Lady Gaga, “A bus, a club, another bus” or whatever she says.
This is a question from my friends, so I have to ask you: Did you read any smut before Game Changers? Or was this your introduction to the world of smut?
To be completely honest with you, I don’t read like that. I’m a very visual person, like my imagination is very visual, so when I start to imagine things, I can’t help but take it and run somewhere else. The only time I was able to really get into reading was when I studied abroad in France. Since French was my second language, I had to double focus, not only on the story but also on the language. But no, I had not read any smutty books before Game Changers. When you all said sex and books, I did not realize it was like this.
It’s a whole world out there. What is your comfort rewatch?
The Great British Baking Show. I’m really bad at keeping up with movies. I will not watch a single thing for like six months, and then I will just be so gluttonous. I feel weird admitting that because if Hudson were here right now, like his idea of comfort … that man is so well researched. My comfort is not in watching something. I’m a doer, you know? I’m always working on something, whether I’m painting my room or learning how to reorganize my kitchen or writing something or making really experimental electronic music that will never see the light of day.
Okay, so you’re crafty. That’s a good skill to have. What is your glute workout? Do you have one?
I do legs. I think legs are super-important.
How many times a week do you do legs?
Well, first of all, I’ve only worked out like twice in the past two months because of the feature that I directed. I lost 15 pounds. So the butt is gone, everybody! The butt is dead! I’m kidding. I do a lot of kettlebell squats, but I’ll do them raised. I think the whole thing about legs that people mess up is that you don’t get deep enough, but it really depends on your body. Like some people can’t do a full squat where you sink all the way into your heels. Some people can only go about 90 degrees, or else they’ll fall over. But I have really long legs and a really short torso, so I can sit all the way into my heels. I just make sure that whatever I do, I go super-deep. Luckily, at my gym, they have a whole butt room withe five different types of hip thrusts and five different types of abductor machines. We call it the booty room.
That’s the most L.A. thing I’ve ever heard. Do you do a lot of reps, or is it heavy weight?
I do heavy weights. I’m always switching it up. My body just responds well to change, and it’s funny because it’s kind of the polar opposite of what a lot of workout experts say, which is that consistency is key. But I think it’s nice for a few weeks to go super-heavy, super-low reps and just really fail at like six reps. Then, next time you do it, do three-quarters of the amount of weight, but do twice as many reps and feel the burn in a different way. If you’re doing a squat, for example, really let yourself sit there at the bottom and feel the stretch, and then really push from that place and connect; I think that’s what takes it to the next level.
In your opinion, what’s the most erotic sport?
Wrestling. It’s practically foreplay.
If there were a lesbian version of Heated Rivalry, who would you cast?
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
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